Trust is fundamental to modern business. Yet in today’s complex regulatory environment, managing trust and compliance at scale remains a persistent challenge—especially across the three stakeholders that form the “Trust Triangle”: companies, third-party suppliers, and advisors.
This is the environment in which Pillar was developed—a solution designed to use compliance metadata to connect these stakeholders, reduce inefficiencies, and bring clarity to fragmented compliance processes.
Companies are held accountable by regulators, customers, and the public to comply with various obligations. These include cybersecurity, privacy, financial risk, and ESG concerns, often extending deep into the supply chain. Choosing the right third parties is both critical and complex.
Third-party suppliers—such as software vendors, service providers, and portfolio companies—must respond to long, detailed questionnaires, often undergoing multiple audits and assessments to satisfy their customers’ requirements. For new or smaller companies, simply doing business with a large enterprise can be a barrier in itself.
Advisors, including audit and consulting firms, help companies and suppliers navigate their compliance needs. Yet these parties frequently operate in silos, using disconnected tools and terminology. The result? Redundancy, inefficiency, and a prolonged path to trust.
The Problem Statement
Many organizations rely on static tools like spreadsheets, manual assessments, and long-form reports to gauge risk and compliance readiness. However, these methods are time-consuming, costly, and often duplicative.
The explosion of compliance frameworks—SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27701, NIST, and others—has made things more complex. Reports may stretch to hundreds of pages, yet procurement timelines continue to lag and trust remains elusive.
Due diligence is essential, but it shouldn’t be a burdensome experience that delays opportunity or discourages collaboration.
Market Inefficiencies
Despite increased automation and accessibility for certain standards, broader trust management efforts remain fragmented.
- Enterprises prioritize risk.
- Suppliers focus on frameworks and controls.
- Advisors home in on policies and testing.
These components are interrelated, but without a common language or system, stakeholders often talk past each other. This disconnect leads to wasted effort, inconsistent results, and unclear expectations across the compliance ecosystem.
The Compliance Metadata Solution
Pillar addresses this gap by leveraging compliance metadata—a structured way to align requirements, risks, and responsibilities across all three members of the Trust Triangle.
Pillar organizes compliance metadata into six key elements:
- Scope – Defines the boundaries of compliance.
- Risks – Identifies specific risks for each party.
- Frameworks – Maps applicable standards to address those risks.
- Controls – Lists measures tailored to each organization.
- Tests – Validates that controls are effective.
- Policies – Documents how risks are managed in practice.
Connecting the Dots With Pillar
Pillar is a connective layer, enabling transparency and collaboration across enterprises, suppliers, and advisors. Structuring compliance data in a consistent, contextual way eliminates duplication, streamlines procurement, and lowers the cost of trust.
Companies can manage supply chain risk more effectively. Advisors can deliver more efficient, higher-quality services. Suppliers gain clarity and agility in meeting requirements.
Pillar integrates seamlessly with existing compliance tools, supporting everything from monitoring and assessments to implementation and workflow management.
Pillar offers a smarter, more connected approach to trust management that respects each stakeholder’s unique context while fostering alignment and accountability.
To learn how compliance metadata can improve your organization’s approach to risk and compliance, contact us for a no-obligation consultation.
